This film publicity image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby in a scene from 'The Great Gatsby.' (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures)

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"Exhausting," "overwrought," "overblown," "empty," "childlike," "boring" - the words critics used to describe "The Great Gatsby," Baz Luhrmann's film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel, were less than kind.

The adjectives differed a bit from those utilized by reviewers to critique Luhrnann's 2001 movie "Moulin Rouge" - words like "exhilarating," "grandiose," "cheeky," "wild-eyed," "audacious," "kitschy" - but if you compare them closely it is possible to see how the director got from these to those.